Carpal tunnel syndrome is a condition involving the inflammation of the median nerve in a wrist. As is well known in the art, carpal tunnel syndrome is typically caused by repetitive motion injury which causes the tendons and nerves that pass through the bony tunnel of the wrist to become inflamed.
Carpal tunnel syndrome is an insidious disease which causes symptoms such as pain, numbness, tingling or a complete loss of feeling in the fingers, hand and arm. These symptoms can be disabling for infected individuals.
Not only is carpal tunnel syndrome an insidious disease for individuals, but it is also very expensive for employers. For example, General Motors claims to have spent over $200,000,000 on carpal tunnel syndrome related injuries in 1993 alone. General Motors also claims that carpal tunnel has thereby become one of General Motors most expensive employee health problems.
Although employers, such as General Motors, have spent great sums of money on the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, the current methods for treating carpal tunnel syndrome have generally been unsuccessful.
One current method for treating carpal tunnel syndrome has been to inject steroids into the injured area in an attempt to inhibit the inflammation of the nerves. If this fails, then surgery has been performed to open the tunnel. The surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome involves either the cutting or scraping of the tendons in the wrist. Neither of these methods have exhibited a great deal of success in treating carpal tunnel syndrome.
Recently, a method for treating carpal tunnel syndrome involving the use of low reactive-level laser therapy has been utilized with some success. In this type of therapy, low reactive-level lasers are directed at the individual's wrist to help alleviate the symptoms caused by carpal tunnel syndrome. These lasers have been provided in bandages which are wearable by infected individuals to treat carpal tunnel syndrome.
However, there is a need for a device which inhibits the inflammation of the nerve while uninfected or infected individuals are working to help prevent the occurrence of carpal tunnel syndrome. It is to such a device for inhibiting the inflammation of nerves that the present invention is directed.